Comment Number: 522418-06434
Received: 7/6/2006 11:13:02 AM
Organization:
Commenter: Mcconnell
State: CA
Subject: Business Opportunity Rule
Title: Notice of Proposed Rulemaking
CFR Citation: 16 CFR Part 437
No Attachments

Comments:

This is on the SMC Website. ------------------------- IMPORTANT! FROM SMC-KERRY COX - PLEASE READ! URGENT! FTC PROPOSAL COULD HURT ALL OF US! Folks, I wouldn’t ordinarily bring something like this up and distract you from your business here on the Forum of learning and sharing information, but this is REALLY important, and something each of you should know about--- and perhaps do something about, before it’s too late. It’s important that these letters don’t sound like form letters. Tell the FTC how YOU PERSONALLY could be affected by such harsh and impractical legislation, and the impact this could have on your business and income. The Federal Trade Commission has proposed new rules governing business and direct sales opportunities such as ours. While we wholly support the FTC’s responsibility to protect the public from unfair and deceptive acts or practices, its new proposal is, in our view, so over-the-top that it could seriously impact our, and your, ability to continue to do business. To summarize a couple of the key points of the FTC proposal, anyone involved in a direct sales opportunity would be required to: Disclose a list of ALL the people who signed up over the previous three years to every new member.. In our case, that would mean we'd have to supply all YOUR names (those of you who signed up within the past 3 years) to every new person who becomes an SMC member! Disclose detailed personal information on the 10 current members who live closest to a prospective new member. In other words, for every new member we signed up, we’d have to provide personal information on a minimum of 10 of YOU! Likewise, you might be required to provide the names of 10 of your nearest sub-wholesalers to each of your recruits! Enforce a 7-day waiting period before signing up new recruits. In other words, if someone wanted to sign up with SMC, they’d have to wait 7 days from the first time they contacted us. Similarly, if you recruited a sub-wholesaler or Party Plan representative to sell for you, you could be obligated to enforce this same waiting period! WHAT CAN YOU DO? Write to the FTC and tell them you feel this kind of legislation would be crippling to our business, and to the direct selling industry as a whole. THERE’S NO TIME TO LOSE--- THE DEADLINE FOR LETTERS IS JULY 14th!! Write to: Federal Trade Commission/Office of the Secretary, Room H-135 (Annex W) Re: Business Opportunity Rule, R511993 600 Pennsylvania Ave. NW Washington, DC 20580 Or email the office at: https://secure.commentworks.com/ftc-bizopNPR/ In your letter, please be sure to include your name and address, along with any other contact info you feel you’d like to add. Start by telling the FTC just a little about yourself--- it’s important that these letters don’t sound like form letters. Tell the FTC how YOU PERSONALLY could be affected by such harsh and impractical legislation, and the impact this could have on your business and income. AGAIN, ALL LETTERS MUST BE RECEIVED BY JULY 14th, SO PLEASE DON’T WAIT! We really need your help here. We are certainly aware that there are “fly-by-night” operators out there offering dubious opportunities, and as I said, we’re supportive of FTC regulation designed to eliminate scam artists. But these rules clearly go way too far, to the point where they could effectively hamstring legitimate businesses like ours and yours. Thanks for reading all this, and thanks in advance for taking the time to write to the FTC. Kerry There is an identical post in Kerry's Blog if you wish to comment